A Compendious yet Complete Philosophical Handbook

i. This volatile Salt symbol: $\ominus$. While often meaning Salt, in this context it refers to the "Earthly" principle or the crystallized spirit. spirit is the father of all perfection of the whole world. Its power is complete when it is transformed into earth.

Note: The effect and power of the Stone The Philosopher's Stone, the goal of the Great Work. is whole—that is, perfect and complete—when it has been converted into earth, Salt symbol: $\ominus$, or stone through fermentation, sublimation, coagulation, and fixation These are the four stages of stabilizing a volatile substance into a permanent, "fixed" physical form..

k. You shall separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the coarse, quite gently and with great understanding.

Note: Pleasantly, gradually, very gently, and not with force or haste, but with art and great wisdom, you shall separate the dregs original Latin: "Feces." This refers to the spent or impure material left over during distillation or calcination. and impurities from the substance of the Stone.

l. It ascends from the earth to the heaven, and descends again to the earth, and thus receives the power of the things above and the things below.

Note: Through ascending and descending—that is, by that continuous circulation original Latin: "circulatione illa continua." or perpetual rotation original Latin: "rotatione perpetua." This describes the process of "Circulatio," where a liquid is evaporated and condensed repeatedly in a closed vessel to refine its spirit.. For what is bodily becomes spiritual in subliming The process of turning a solid directly into vapor., and what is spiritual becomes bodily in descending.